Bonding Elastomers: A Review of Adhesives & Processes

This review has been written as a practical approach to bonding various kinds of elastomers to substrates such as steel and plastics, as used in the manufacture of diverse products such as rubber covered rolls, urethane fork lift wheels, rubber lining for chemical storage or solid rocket motors, engine bushes and mounts, seals for transmissions, electrical power connectors and military tank track pads.
There are over 20 kinds of elastomeric polymer each having unique physical and chemical resistance characteristics. Through compounding, a given elastomer's performance can be enhanced but no single elastomer can be compounded to meet all applications. In the same manner, no single adhesive can provide the needed levels of adhesion and environmental resistance to all polymers. Even when bonding a particular elastomer, the adhesive of choice can vary depending upon the compounding of the rubber including the cure system, the environmental application of the bonded assembly, the substrate to which the rubber is going to be bonded, the moulding method and the geometry of the part. Other factors affecting adhesive selection might include colour, conductivity, and means of application.
This review is based on the authors' years of experience working closely with end-use customers and offers a thorough overview of how to successfully bond rubber to a given substrate in the manufacture of quality rubber engineered components:
- substrate preparation
- selection of adhesive
- adhesive preparation
- adhesive application
- moulding conditions
- testing and bond failure analysis
- future trends
This review is supported by an indexed section containing several hundred key references and abstracts selected from the Polymer Library.